Softening apparatus



T. LUND. SOFT'ENING APPARATUS;

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 4, 1-918.

2 w w M d m m HW w THOMAS .LUND, OF BEVERLY, MASSACI-TU SETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF IE A'lElEhElON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION or NEW JERSEY.

sorrnivme APPARATUS.

speceam 6: Letters Patent I t nt O 19 19 0,

. Application filea'rebruary 4, 191s Seria1 No."215,325, v

To'aZZ whom it may 50mm; r Be it known that I, THOMAS Loni); a c1t1- zen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in' the'county of EssexIand State of v Massachusettsf have invented certain Improvements in Softening Apparatus, of

which the following descriptlon, incOnnection with the accompanying drawings, 1s a; specification, like reference characters on the I drawings indicating like parts in the several of boots and: shoes andinparticul'ar to thei manufacture of'shoes havingbox toes which are softened by heatinpreparation for last- 'ing. The use of box toes of this character has become quite universal; They aresometimes placed in the shoe'and :then softened 7 prior to the pulling-over operation; They a 20 are sometimes softened befor'eincorporation in the sho e,damage to the upperf'mate'rials by the heating means being thus avoided. y This latter practice is called slipping .the *boxes, and it is with this that myinvention is particularly concerned;

The boxes or blanks aretsoftened by placing them on a support heated in anyde-v sirable manner. j They maybe supported in contact with hot steamfor on a 'hot plate heatedby steam or electricity. fWhate ve'r the softening means adopted; many acci' dents occur due toburning of theoper ators fingers in'picl'ring them up. T- They are impregnated with a' substance 'whiclr is sticky when hot and they adhere to a supp-ort'on which they" are heated'ifilnasmu'ch as the blanks are 'flat and thin it is diflicult to pick 7 them up; and the operators frequently cannot avoid touching their fingers t'othe' heating'mean's in taking them up, 1 It is an 010- jectof my invention to-provide noyeli'apparatusj for heating box toes or simllaraly ticles which 5 shall bef'oonvenientin use and shall insure against inj uryto' the operator.

To this end an important feature of the invention" is a means for separating the V heated blanks" from the heating meansw'ith- {out the necessity or risk of touching the heating means-with the fingersqi-After their ,5

separation from the "heating=means,

that is used to reachfor alheatedf blank, .7

blanks may be safely picked up by the operatorQ The machine shown comprises a hot plate containing apertures, and a relatively but the structure that separates the blanks therefrom willnot bejheated, although these two elements remain always in cooperative relation with the pins in registration with theapertures. Thus, even though the pins are spaced from one another far enough 'toxenable ones thumb or, finger to enter be- ;tween'two of them' without touching either, and at the same time thejpins are sufliciently close to each .oth lt provide adequate sup port foi' the blank'sr which are limp when heated, no harm can result from touching the fingers to the pinsjbecause the latter re-' main coolif Thisiteature of heating the foraminous plate without heating the pins isobtained by forming the plate with one r 'or more chambers in "which theheat may be generated," orthrough which a heated Inedium, such as: steam, may be circulated. In

the "presentcase the heat is generated 10- f cally in these chambers by electrical heating elements, thus avoiding the necessity of the more cumbersome steam equipment; 7

' Another importantfeature' of the invention resides in constructing the separating means so'as tobe operated by the same hand These and other features of'the invention will be understood from theffollowing description of a preferred embodiment "of the invention-{selected for purposes of illustration'and'shown in the drawings in which,

{Figure 1 is -a""'broken-away perspective View, and '-F1 gs.'2 and3are'sect1onalviews 'showingthe apparatus'i'n two positionsJ fThebase 10 supports a hollow casing 12,

the upperiw all 11 of which is perforated With'numerous holes 15 and is heated to the desired temperature preferably by electric units 16'embedded in a convenientnumber of bosses 18; 7 These; units are wired in any -.desiredmanner to the current supply line 120.

a pair of vertical guides 22. A plate 2 1 is arranged with slides 26 at its ends between .self.

the vertical guides- 22. thus rise or fall vertically in the guides, the holes 19 enabling it to pass the bosses 18, and carries at its upper surface upwardly projectingpins' 28 arranged below the'holes' 14, and of such length as to pass through the holes to a plane abovethe upper surface of the heated plate when the pin plate 24; is raised. 1 I

Pivoted in two lugs 30 .mounted on -the wall of the casing 12 near .theends of the casing are two arms 32which extend under the median line of the page 24 and whose outer endsextend through apertures 34 in the side Wall of the chamber. A U-shaped operating, member 36 has its ends pivoted as at 38 to the casing and rests on the arms 32. The-weight of the member 36 is nearly but'not quite enough to balance theweight of the late 24. j 1

The blanks 38 to be heated are placed on the upper plate 11 which will be heated to the proper temperature by the units 16. 7 When the operatordesires a box' toe he will reach over the member 36, depressing it withhis forearm as. he does so. This will 30 raiseithe plate 24 and lift the blanks from the plate' ll, enabling the operatorlto grasp one. of them without any dangerof touch,-

g' the plate 11, and thereby injuring him The apparatus is inexpensive, convenient in use, and avoids the trouble and danger heretofore characteristic of the shoemaking practice described. l v Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is -1. An apparatus for heating articles, comprising means for supporting and heating an article, and secondary meansconstructed and arranged tosupport thejarticle so that a hand may pick it up without touching the secondary means, said'two means being relatively, movable to transfer the heated article from thefirst said means tothe other and being guided relatively mote "such. transference.

2. An apparatus for heating article Comprising means for supporting and heating an art cle, means associated ,tlierewithfor ,se'paratmg'the heated article from said heat- .ing means, said two means being arranged totransfer theiblank from one to the other in consequence of relative movement of the :two-means, anda movable element opera- ,tively connected, to one of said means to .cailse such relative transferring movement, said. element being arranged to be engaged and operated by an arm or hand extended to P k. P. the t le o aidv s p a n means. r

The plate 24' u can 3. An apparatus for heating articles, comprising means for supporting and heating an art1cl'e,a movable member arranged to be engaged by an arm or hand extended'to pick up a heated article fromthe apparatus, saidmember being adjacent to but insulated .thermally from said meansfand-xmeans arranged to separate a: marginal pOltlOll of the lower plate having pins' arrangedin registration with said holes respectively, means arranged to heat the upper plate, and means arranged to move one of said plates toward .the other to cause said'pins to separate an article from the upper plate.

the upper surface of V o 7 90 napparatus for heatingfarticles,com-

prising a. foraminous plate for supporting the :farticles, heating means embedded .111

said, plate, a pluralityof pins connected togetherbelow said plate and inxregistration with the holes in the' plate, the pins collec ti v ely and the platebeing relatively inov-' able to cause the pins to separate an article from theuppersurface of theplate, and means forcaus in gv such relative movement of the pins and the: plate.

,6. A machine of the class described comprising a heating plate arranged to support an article, said plate having holesin it, and a *member. arranged under said plate and carrying pins registering with the holes, said member being movable to project the pins through the holes to lift a heated' arti-. cle from" the heating plate whereby a marginal portion of the articleomay be conveniently graspe'dby a thumb and finger without touching the heating plate. V 7. An apparatus forheating articles,com

.prising. a foraminous plate for supporting toeach other to 'pro- .belowjsaid plate and"arranged inregistra- .tion with the holes in the plate, said plate and said pins being relatively movable vprojectjthe pins-through said holes.

8. An apparatus for heating-articles, comprising .two article supporting structures. ,constructed and arranged to have relatlve movement to transfer an article from one to the other,.guiding means arranged to maintain said structures in cooperative relation 'for such ;;re1 ative transferring movement,

andmeans arranged to. heat one for said structures exclusively of the other while forsuch relative transferring movement, 1.0

both structures are in such relation as (to said structures being ,formed to have respecexecute relative transferring movement. tivelyrelatively great and relatively small.

9. An apparatus for heating articles, com areal contact with the article, and means prising two article-supporting structures 7 arranged to heat the structure that has the constructed and arranged'to have relative greater areal contact exclusively of the other. 15 movement to transfer an article from one to g In testimony whereof I have signed my the other, guiding means arranged to mainname to this specification. tain said structures in cooperative relation THOMAS LUND. 

